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Whoever happens to stop by this blog may wonder why I started it. Whenever I read news stories online I always like to put a face to the story. So I got to thinking maybe other people would as well. I always keep up on WV news and most stories don't have the mugshots with them so I hunt them up online and post them with the story. It's not that hard and I don't know why the state news sites don't do it

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Friday, October 23, 2009

MARTINSBURG - An Inwood man whose wife allegedly shot him after holding him at gunpoint for more than two hours Wednesday night told police Thursday that she just "snapped" after he said he planned to remove her as a beneficiary from his insurance policy.

Stephen Kent Slone, 45, of Winchester Avenue, initially was taken to City Hospital in Martinsburg after the shooting and was later transported to Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia for treatment.

His wife, 41-year-old Flor Demaria Slone, of Kearneysville, was taken into custody at her home in Jefferson County shortly after the shooting Wednesday night. She was arraigned Thursday on charges of kidnapping and malicious assault, and was being held without bail at the Eastern Regional Jail.

According to court records, at about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sr. Trooper J.D. Schuessler of the West Virginia State Police responded to 5391 Winchester Ave., where the victim ran to for help after the shooting. Schuessler was told by emergency dispatchers that the victim had been shot by his wife, Flor Slone, who fled the area in a yellow Jeep Tracker.

Trooper First Class J.D. Burkhart and Senior Trooper W.M. Roden also responded to the scene, while other officers in Berkeley and Jefferson counties attempted to find the suspect's vehicle.

When Schuessler arrived at the scene, she saw the victim lying on the front door step of 5391 Winchester Ave. covered in his own blood as a result of what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the right pectoral region, records show.

The victim told police that his wife shot him twice and that she lived at 87 Russell Way in Jefferson County, records show.

Emergency medical services personnel subsequently arrived at the scene and tended to the victim before taking him to City Hospital.

Schuessler obtained a statement from a neighbor, who said that earlier in the day the victim had asked her to watch over his house.

"She further advised that Mr. Slone said he had taken his wife off the beneficiary of his insurance policy and she was unhappy with this decision," Schuessler wrote in the criminal complaint.

The neighbor told police that between 5:45 and 6 p.m., she noticed the yellow Jeep Tracker in the driveway and said it was there until at least 7:30 p.m., when she went to bed.

The next thing she knew, her doorbell was ringing and her husband began yelling at her to help.

The neighbor and her husband tended to the victim's injuries until EMS personnel arrived, records show.

She told police that while she was tending to the victim, he stated that his wife had held him at gunpoint for about three hours.

After the victim was taken to the hospital, Schuessler went to his home at the 5400 block of Winchester Avenue. When she arrived at the home, she observed bloody footprints throughout the area and large pools of blood in the kitchen, records show.

On the living room floor was a pillow that appeared to have either a bullet hole through it or a burn marking. Police also found a small .22-caliber pistol, with an empty shell casing, and they found another round in the chamber, records show.

Next to the pistol, police found a grocery bag with a hole in the bottom and black residue around where the hole had been made. Inside the plastic bag was a spent .22-caliber shell casing. Roden and Burkhart also located a bullet lodged in the wall behind the recliner, records show.

Meanwhile, after the victim's wife was located in Jefferson County, she volunteered to speak with law enforcement. She was taken to the State Police detachment in Jefferson County where she spoke with Sgt. Kevin Pansch. During questioning, she continually denied shooting her husband, records show.

At about 1:19 a.m. Thursday, the victim contacted Schuessler from Inova Fairfax Hospital and was able to provide the officer with a verbal statement. He said that he and his wife had a conversation Wednesday morning about him taking her off his insurance policy, records show.

He said she arrived at his home at about 6 p.m that night.

"When he answered the door, she was holding a firearm to his head. He said once inside the residence they sat in the living room talking and then at one point she just snapped," Schuessler wrote the criminal complaint.

The victim said she picked up the gun and stood in front of him before picking up the small square pillow and firing one shot through it, records show.

The first bullet went through the pillow and struck him in the right side, but didn't penetrate his body, records show. He said his wife then dropped the pillow and fired another round, which entered his right side and exited out through his back.

She dropped the gun and ran out the door, he told police. Afterward, he said he got up and went to the kitchen to dial 911, but couldn't because of his injuries. He then ran outside to his neighbor's home for help.

If convicted of kidnapping, Flor Slone faces a maximum of up to life in prison. She also faces two to 10 years in prison if convicted of malicious assault.